This photo was taken in Japan. A diver can be seen swimming close to the bedrock of a set of mysterious ruins, not too far from Yonaguni Island in the Okinawa Prefecture. As seen here, it has a peculiar, circular indentation that has left archeologists with plenty of question marks about its origins.
With what appears to be steps, divers and researchers alike have debated about whether it was manmade or purely the result of Mother Nature. There are other majestic parts of this discovered underwater “city,” for lack of a better term. This photo is merely scratching the surface of this strange mystery.
The USS Oriskany
The USS Oriskany was nicknamed The Mighty O, one of the Essex-class carriers commissioned after the Second World War. It was named after one of the bloodiest battles during the Revolutionary War in 1777, the Battle of Oriskany. The ship has been retired from service in 1976, and sold for scrap.
The USS Oriskany has found itself useful to the environment beyond its call of duty. It was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico in 2006 and is used as an artificial reef, the largest vessel to be utilized as such, and its presence makes the area a choice destination for divers.
The SS Thistlegorm
This British-armed Merchant Navy ship was built in 1940. It had three successful voyages until it was sunk during its fourth trip, on its way to Alexandria, Egypt. It traveled to the US, Argentina, and the West Indies. A German bomber plane suspected it of being a troop carrier and targeted it, triggering the ship’s own load of bombs and ammunition to explode, causing the SS Thistlegorm to sink in 1941.
Interest over its wreckage had been resumed after Jacques Cousteau discovered it in the 1950s. He was able to raise some of its load, while most of it remains underwater. It’s now a recreational dive site where motorcycles, trucks, and rifles, which it was supposed to deliver to the Allied forces in Egypt, can be seen on deck.
F4U Corsair
This photograph shows the F4U Corsair, an American fighter aircraft that saw heavy action during the Second World War. The pilot of this carrier-based aircraft encountered a fuel shortage while returning from a mission.
The pilot was able to contact his home base to seek for assistance and mainly informed headquarters that he was highly unlikely to make it back with little fuel left. He was forced to crash-land at sea but was later on rescued. Unfortunately, the aircraft had not been saved, and it remains at the ocean basin.
Belize
The Great Blue Hole is a huge underwater cave, off the coast of Belize. To fully appreciate its beauty, one has to fly over the sinkhole located near the Lighthouse Reef. It’s surrounding water is a deep dark blue, that is so because it traps the sunlight in.
Not readily visible from the horizon, it only became famous following Jacques Cousteau’s declaration of the hole as one of the best dive sites in the world. It is 407 feet deep, and 984 feet across; an enclosure full of mystery that fires up everyone’s imagination.